The top court of the European Union has upheld the rights of individual countries to ban online gambling within their borders.  This is a victory for the countries that maintain a monopoly on online gambling within their own jurisdiction.  Some countries have argued that the legalization of online gambling will attract the unhealthy criminal element.  On the other hand, the Internet gambling industry lobbied for online gambling because it would break up domestic monopolies on the activity.

As a sidebar to the ruling, the European Union also reaffirmed that the Swedish authorities can not impose discriminatory penalties and fines for violators of Sweden’s lottery laws.  In other words, Swedish legislation can not penalize the promotion of online gambling from outside sources differently from those that operate within the Swedish borders.

In response to the aforementioned, the UK business and economics publication, “The Economist,” has aligned itself in diametric opposition to banning online gambling.  The publication points out the benefits of properly licensed and regulated Internet gambling processes.  It vehemently argues that prohibition never works, and you simply need to look at the United States banning of alcohol in the 1920’s as a testament to that fact.

The United States has also had an enforcement issue with its 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which was intended to disrupt financial deposits to Internet online gambling websites.  In reality, this law has done little to prevent Americans from betting online.  Americans who have access to the Internet can gamble readily online.

According to the “Economist,” the real reasons countries want to ban online gambling are two-fold:  commercial protectionism and fear of competition.  It also raises the pedagogical question whether gamblers are better protected by banning it, causing it go underground or by establishing the proper regulation and taxation as it is done in the UK.  

On the other hand, the online gambling business in France is flourishing just one month after the legalization of online poker and sports betting there.  During the month of June, 2010, there has been a 64 percent increase in the number of gambling clients compared to the previous month, and a 346 percent jump when compared to last June.  In like manner, the advertising of online gambling operators in France has increased markedly.  

The countries of the EU should take note of the French model.